Events

Title: An Introduction to Nonnegativity and Polynomial Optimization

Abstract:

In science and engineering, we regularly face polynomial optimization problems, that is: minimize a real, multivariate polynomial under polynomial constraints. Solving these problems is essentially equivalent to certifying of nonnegativity of real polynomials -- a key problem in real algebraic geometry since the 19th century.

Title: Erdős-Ko-Rado results for flags in spherical buildings

Abstract: Over the last few years, Erdős-Ko-Rado theorems have been found in many different geometrical contexts including for example sets of subspaces in projective or polar spaces. A recurring theme throughout these theorems is that one can find sharp upper bounds by applying the Delsarte-Hoffman coclique bound to a matrix belonging to the relevant association scheme.

Title: An into introduction to the chromatic number of digraph

Abstract: A proper $k$-coloring of a digraph $D$ is a coloring of the vertices such that every color class is acyclic, and the dichromatic number of a digraph $D$ is the minimum number $k$ such that there is a proper $k$-coloring of $D$. Many questions about the chromatic number can be asked about the dichromatic number, but as one will quickly observe, unsuspected complications arise when dealing with digraphs.

Title: On the Security of the NIST lightweight Finalist Ascon

Abstract: 

The ongoing NIST lightweight cryptographic standardization project for the selection of ciphers which are suitable for constrained environments is in the final stage. The authenticated encryption algorithm Ascon, designed by Dobrauing et al., is one out of the 10 finalists. Ascon is also one of the winners of the CAESAR competition in the lightweight applications category.

Title: A Brief Introduction to World of Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado Theorems

Abstract:   The Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado (EKR) theorem is a famous result that is one of the cornerstones of extremal set theory. This theorem answers the question "What is the largest family of intersecting sets, of a fixed size, from a base set?"

Title: Determinantal formulas with major indices

Abstract: Krattenthaler and Thibon discovered a beautiful formula for the determinant of the matrix indexed by permutations whose entries are q^maj( u*v^{-1} ), where “maj” is the major index. Previous proofs of this identity have applied the theory of nonsymmetric functions or the representation theory of the Tits algebra to determine the eigenvalues of the matrix.

Title: Spectral Turan Problems on trees and even cycles

Abstract:  In this talk, we discuss some recent progress with the spectral analogue of a few Turán problems: Instead of maximizing the number of edges, our objective is to maximize the spectral radius of the adjacency matrices of graphs not containing some subgraphs.

Title: Bounded treewidth in hereditary graph classes

Abstract: A highlight of the superb graph minors project of Robertson and Seymour is their so-called Grid Theorem: a minor-closed class of graphs has bounded treewidth if and only it does not contain all planar graphs. Which induced-subgraph-closed graph classes have bounded treewidth?

Title: Box-ball systems, RSK, and Motzkin paths 

Abstract:  A box-ball system (BBS) is a discrete dynamical system whose dynamics come from the balls jumping according to certain rules. A permutation on n objects gives a BBS state by assigning its one-line notation to n consecutive boxes. After a finite number of steps, a box-ball system will reach a steady state. From any steady state, we can construct a tableau called the soliton decomposition of the box-ball system.

Title: Stochastic Optimization

Abstract: While deterministic optimization problems are very useful in practice, often times the assumption that all data is known in advance does not hold true. One possible way to relax this assumption is to assume that the data depends on random variables. This assumption leads to stochastic optimization problems.